Years ago, I found myself sitting in law school in Moot Court wearing an oversized itchy blue suit. It was a horrible experience. In a desperate attempt to avoid anything like that in the future I enrolled in a tax course. I loved it. I signed up for another. Before I knew it, in addition to my JD, I had a LL.M Taxation. I needed only to don my cape…. taxgirl® was born. Today, I live and work in Philadelphia, PA, one of the best cities in the world (I can't even complain about the sports teams these days). I landed in the City of Brotherly Love by way of Temple University School of Law. While at law school, I interned at the estates attorney division of the IRS. At IRS, I participated in the review and audit of federal estate tax returns. I even took the lead on a successful audit. At audit, opposing counsel read my report, looked at his file and said, “Gentlemen, she’s exactly right.” I nearly fainted. It was a short jump from there to practicing, teaching, writing and breathing tax.

IRS Introduces Tax Return Vending Machines (April Fool's Day Edition)

Forget cupcake ATMs: the Internal Revenue Service has a better idea. Beginning with the 2014 tax year, the IRS will offer the opportunity for taxpayers in some metropolitan area to file simple income tax returns by using a vending machine.

While a tax vending machine may seem out of the ordinary, the IRS is confident it will catch on, noting that you can buy almost anything through a vending machine these days. Why not offer the chance for taxpayers to file on the go?

I was curious to see how the machine worked so an IRS spokesperson walked me through the process. To get started, you must create an account: all you need is a valid credit or debit card. After you pop the card into the slot, the entire registration process takes less than a minute.

The vending machine recognized me and immediately displayed a welcome message. It brought up my former tax history and confirmed my favorite color before moving on to the nextnext screen.

Favorite color? “But how does it know?” I asked the IRS spokesperson.

“We’re the IRS,” she said to me. “Trust me. We know everything.”

The machine walked me through a number of basic questions about my family situation, including questions about my dependents and residency. The questions were in an interview style, the sort you might see using some of the better software that’s out there.

Next, I had the opportunity to enter information about my income and expenses. For the first rollout, the IRS is only allowing taxpayers with fairly straightforward tax returns to file. This would include most taxpayers who file a form 1040EZ or the often-neglected form 1040A. Some taxpayers who file a form 1040 will qualify to file so long as their income is only derived from wages, interest and dividends. At this time, you may not file using the vending machine if you have self-employment income to be reported on a Schedule C, capital gains information for a Schedule D or rental income on a Schedule E. Additionally, the machines don’t support those taxpayers filing a form 1040-NR, form 1040-NREZ or 1040-PR. It also doesn’t accept filings from taxpayers if you – or any of your dependents – were born on Leap Day. The IRS spokesperson shrugged. “For some reason, we just can’t make that work.”

“Otherwise,” she said, cheerfully, “it’s so easy even Warren Buffett can do it.”

Except that Warren Buffett likely files a pretty significant Schedule D and would, therefore, not be able to use the machine. I almost said something but the spokesperson looked so earnest, I figured I’d let that one go.

A built-in scanner allows you to submit forms W-2 and forms 1099 along with your return, eliminating the need to send in any forms – and saving a stamp in the process.

When you’ve completed your return, a message on the screen indicates whether you owe (a sad face) or whether you’re due a refund (a smiley face).

If you owe, you can pay onsite using cash, credit or debit. Or, if you’d prefer, you can print out your return and mail in a check.

Choices for obtaining a refund by vending machine are currently limited but more options are planned for the 2016 filing season.

Initially, if your refund is $10 or less, you can cash out directly at the vending machine in coins – sort of like playing the slots.

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I’ve actually used LiveWire. They had a promotion on Slickdeals not too long ago, so I decided to give it a shot. The service was great. The tax preparer I worked with helped answer a lot of questions as well as file my taxes. Give it a shot Jesse!